


panic room

by saltat1o



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, Will Solace is a Dork, nico di angelo is a jock, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24415960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltat1o/pseuds/saltat1o
Summary: “Is that blood on the ground?”“No?”“That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.”----Solangelo High School AUteen for language
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 4
Kudos: 55





	1. welcome to the panic room

**Author's Note:**

> any question or typos? comment! this is my first fic so bear with me.

Nico’s POV

My black converse led me through the pale gray hallways of my school. The squeaking of shoes irritates my ears. _Dammit, I wish I remembered my earbuds today_. I twisted and turned down several different hallways. I eventually located my locker. I quickly put my combination in it and opened it, I was pissed, the lockers weren’t even big enough to fit a backpack inside, and we aren’t allowed to carry them around school because it’s a ‘health hazard’.  
I took a large binder from my backpack, squishing my backpack flat inside the small box. I could feel someone staring as I pulled my pencil case from the side pocket. As I closed my locker the stare got even more intense. I turned around to be faced with my one and only half sister Hazel. I nimbly walk over to her smiling weakly at her. “Nico di Angelo! What did I tell you about leaving me on my first day of school?” Hazel's voice was harsh, but fun-loving.  
“Sorry Hazel, I forgot,” I responded quietly so that only people in the very close vicinity could hear me. My voice sounded different nowadays, after spending the past summer in Italy, my accent has started coming back.  
Hazel just laughed and said she was joking. She turned to me and motioned for me to follow her to our first class. I could hear the rhythmic beat of footsteps of the fellow students around me. Muffled voices could be heard every turn you take.  
Eventually Hazel and I end up in front of a small looking classroom. Hazel and I wander in together as the first bell rings. Hazel and I take seats next to each other. We decided to sit all the way in the back, mostly because of me. If it was up to Hazel she would have totally sat in the first row, right in front of the teachers desk.  
The classroom was simple, it had bare light yellow-gray walls, a few posters here and there, with a smartboard at the front of the classroom. I could tell I was zoned out at that point when I felt an elbow digging into my side, “Di Angelo? Nico? Is Nico here yet?”  
Eyes widening in surprise I quietly responded with, “Present.”  
The teacher looks around, his eyes scanning over the students, “Nico I heard you, but where are you?” I shyly raise my hand off of my desk. The teacher makes eye contact with me with a gaze that feels like it could pierce through my body if I let it for too long. “Ah, I see you, thank you Nico,” the teacher said, eyes detaching from my soul.  
The teacher continued through roll call, eventually reaching Hazel, who to me, responded in a much too bubbly tone for school. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t _hate_ school, but I definitely don’t love it either. Too many people _live_ at this school. Too many loud people and noises, too many taunts. Too many homophobic people, teachers included. Once the teacher finished an agonizingly long roll call, a tall student came through the door with an office aid.  
This guy was seriously _hot_. Like not just someone you look at once and say, _wow I wish I looked like that_. This was someone you had to have a double take at. He was tall and tan, he looked like he was maybe from California, or somewhere warm at least judging by the shade of his skin. His hair was a golden blond, shimmering in the early morning light. His face was sculpted like a roman statue, everything was defined, but not too defined. He seriously looked amazing. While yes he was pleasing from the side, when he turned to look for a seat, his _eyes_. Dam. That is what I live for. They were the color of the sky during the eye of a hurricane. Beautiful but intimidating.  
The teacher looked at him, “You must be Mr.Solace, you just moved from Texas correct?”  
The boy gave a short nod, the teacher pointed at the open seats around the class, noting for the Solace kid to have a seat. Out of the probably 6 empty seats in the classroom, the sunshine kid decided to sit right next to _me_. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it’s really not, he’s pleasing to look at, but god's dam it, I’m never going to get any work done.  
The teacher smiled after Sunshine took his seat, “Well, with all of that out of the way, I’m Mr.Blofis, I will be your American Studies teacher. This is a block period with one period of English, and one period of US American History.” He paused for a quick second while he took another look around the class, “I quite like the looks of the seats you’ve chosen, so for our first activity I’m going to pair you up with the student in the desk next to yours.”  
My stomach drops, this could either turn out well and I get paired with Hazel, or this could go horribly and I end up getting paired with Sunshine.”  
Of course it goes wrong. Hazel ends up getting paired with this guy named Frank, and I end up with Sunshine.  
“Alright class! Now that you have your partners, I’m gonna give you five minutes to acquaint yourself, and then you’re going to come up in groups and share oe fact you learned about the other person that you find interesting and share it with the class,” Mr.Blofis happily said, his eyes were wide with excitement, scanning each and every one of us with a penetrating glare. I turn to Sunshine who’s already smiling widely for no apparent reason.  
“I’m Will! I just moved from Texas and am really enjoying Manhattan so far!” he had a blinding white grin on his face, his now present freckles were everywhere, too many to count.  
“Oh uh, yeah, hello. I’m Nico,” I respond flatly, trying to keep my emotions under control, not to let _Will_ see any blush at all on my cheeks.  
Will smiled even wider at me, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Nico! As for things I do for fun, I love playing sports, and I love music even though I’m not very good at singing or anything, and I really want to be a doctor.”  
_A doctor, huh, that seems fitting for him_ , “Uh yeah, I play lacrosse.”  
Will gave me a quizzical grin, “You sound foreign, where are you from? It sounds European?”  
“Italy.”  
A loud boom rang throughout the classroom, I jumped in my seat and Will laughed a bit. Looking towards the front of class Mr.Blofis pulls up the first group to start speaking. Eventually Hazel and Frank go up, they talk fluently and smoothly together. They also complement each other very well, even though Frank looks like a baby.  
“Alright! Nico and Will correct?” Mr Blowfis announces. Will nods and smiles at him standing right up. I follow a bit behind so that he gets there first.  
My hoodie rubs roughly against my arms as Will begins speaking, “I’m Will, and this is Nico! A few things I learned about Nico is that he plays lacrosse and is from Italy!” A couple kids in the class smile at Will. A few even make googly eyes at him.  
“I learned that Will plays sports and wants to become a doctor,” my voice was quiet, my accent seemed stronger in a silent room.  
“Very good! Next!” Mr.Blofis called.


	2. where all your darkest fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm trying to get formatting to work

Nico’s POV

First period was horrible. I had to sit next to Will, who just kept smiling at me. Do you know how hard it is to focus when someone is sitting next to you, smiling at you, _and_ they’re hot? No, I don’t think you realize just how hard that is. I wanted to maybe talk to him a bit, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so.  
_What if he thinks I’m weird?  
What if he’s scared of me?  
What if he hates me?  
Why do I even care? It’s not like I would even deserve someone like him._  
Thoughts plagued my mind. I couldn’t get my mind off of the ray of sunshine next to me. When the bell rang overhead, I quickly grabbed my binder and rushed towards the door. “Nico!” Hazel ran up next to me, “Is it okay if Frank sits with us at lunch?”  
“Fine.”  
“Can he bring a few of his friends?”  
“Sure. Bye Hazel,” my voice sounded harsh. I didn’t intend it that way, but I really wasn’t in the mood to discuss. _How could Hazel already make friends on her first day of school in Manhattan, when it took me 5 years to make a single friend?_  
As I turned down into a small hallway, I saw the sign that said ‘Boys Locker Room’ and opened it. I had dumbly signed up for gym after being convinced by my one and only friend Jason Grace to take it. Jason was my co-captain of the lacrosse team. Him and I were unlikely friends, but I appreciated him. A lot. “Hey! Neeks!” speak of the devil.  
“How many times do I have to tell you, do not call me Neeks,” I playfully said, although I was completely and 100% serious.  
“Aw c’mon Neeks!”  
“I’m serious Grace, leave me alone so I can change,” with a sigh, Jason heeded my words and changed himself. As I changed, I could feel a pair of eyes on me. I hated changing publicly and usually opted to change in a stall, but the school took out the stalls after kids tore them off of the walls. That’s beside the point, I just didn’t like the way my body looked. I had nasty scars everywhere, back, chest, legs, and arms. I opted to wear my hoodie over the t-shirt, I didn’t care as much about my legs, but my arms and torso were a different story.  
I slipped the hoodie over my body just to hear, “What? Is the captain of the lacrosse team not comfortable with people seeing him?”  
“ _Fuck_ off,” I pushed the door open and walked into the gym. When I got out there I found Jason talking to a girl. I’ve seen her before a few times, I wouldn’t know her name, but I recognized her. When Jason saw me he smiled at me and motioned me closer.  
“Neeks! This is Piper!” Jason gladly motioned to the girl standing next to him.  
“Hello Piper, I’m _Nico_ , I’m the other captain of the lacrosse team,” I emphasized that my name was Nico not Neeks. Sometimes I thought that Jason really had one brain cell, and not in all advanced courses.  
“Hello Nico, glad to finally meet you, Jason has talked a lot about-” she was cut off by a loud ear piercing whistle. I jumped a bit and Jason out his hand on my shoulder. It was a lesser known fact that I was highly defensive and scared easily.  
“Listen here cupcakes, I’m Coach Hedge, you respect me, I respect you. If you have an issue, bring it up, I am your _friend_. I do not tolerate bullying of any kind. If I hear about, literally hear it, or see it, you will be having a fun rest of the year in ALC. You got that?” The Coach was maybe barely reaching 5’ 8’’, but who am I to speak, I’m a whopping 5’5’’. After a few second Coach spoke up, “I said, got that?” a chorus of ‘yes’ sounded throughout the reverberating room, “Good, then let’s get started! 4 laps around the gym, when you’re done get in groups of two or three! No more, no less!”  
People started running and I gave a pleading look to Jason, silently asking if I could partner with him. He smiled at me weakly, my eyes then caught onto someone else. A certain surfer looking boy, golden hair, tan skin, _Will_. I hadn’t even noticed he was in the class. I started running, Jason and I seeing who could get their laps done faster without running into anyone. I was fairly fast for my size, I had to make up extra distance given how short I was, but I also had very long and disproportionate legs compared to my body. As I rounded the corner for the final lap Jason grabbed my hand, dragging me around to disorient me. Little did he know I could play the same game. I latched back onto his wrist and pulled backwards, using him as leverage to push myself ahead.  
“C’mon bro! I would've won!” Jason said, finishing the laps one step behind me.  
“Sorry, and don’t call me _bro_ ,” Jason laughed and we waited for Piper to finish her laps until I felt someone tap on my shoulder.  
I jumped a little bit, a small squeal escaped my mouth. I turned around to be faced with the one and only Will, who was ridiculously tall compared to me, “Uh sorry, I was wondering if you would be my partner since I don’t really know anyone else. . . Uh sorry, never mind, you probably wouldn’t anyway.”  
I looked around, a lot of the girls staring at Will, along with a few boys, but some of those looks could be looks of _why is the new hot guy talking to the weird depressed jock?_ “Uh, yeah it’s okay,” I looked at Jason who smirked at me, “I’m cool with it.” Jason was the only one other than Hazel who knew I was as straight as a rainbow slinky.  
Will gave me a blinding smile, “Awesome! Thanks Nico!”  
I could feel a little bit of heat on my cheeks, “Uh no problem?”  
“Man I love your accent, it’s really pretty. I’m guessing you’re fluent?”  
“Thanks? And yeah, I lived there until I was ten. We visit every summer and over a lot of breaks, so my accent never americanized,” I explained only to be interrupted by Coach.  
“Alright cupcakes! It’s time for dodge ball, let’s go! Pick a side!” Everyone hurried to either side of the room, Will and I chose to be on Jason’s team.  
\---  
Once we were back in the locker room, a few people were high fiving for winning and what not. There was a lot of shoving people around and mocking people. I waited for the crowd to die down to start changing. Once only a few people were in there I peeled my hoodie off, I was burning hot from running around so much, but it was worth it. I laid the sweaty hoodie on the bench and peeled off the shirt the boys were forced to wear. It was supposed to be pale blue, but was now darker given I had sweat.  
I pulled back on my faded black skull shirt, along with my hoodie. I changed out of the basketball shorts and into my ridiculously tight skinny jeans. I sometimes wondered why girls still hit on me, if you think I’m straight with these tight of jeans, you need to rethink yourself. I restrung my chain belt and put my rings back on. I stared at the skull ring I put on my hand. Bianca had given it to me when we were younger, mine was silver, hers was gold. I made sure she was buried with it on when she passed away.  
As I went to leave the locker room, a few of the nasty football jocks stopped me, “Where do you think you’re going? Don’t you know it’s against the rules to wear jackets during gym? What’s your reason? What’s your damage?”  
They latched onto my arm and I pulled away violently, “Keep your hands off me bastards!”  
“What? You got a reason you don’t want to be touched? Are you scared? You don’t look as good without that Grace kid by your side. You’re nothing without him, you would be even more of an outcast without him,” They continued taunting me, until the bell rang. In their moment of distraction I tried to get out. They only slammed me roughly against the lockers.  
“Damn, you have such low self esteem, you think picking on me is going to help? Get. A. Life.” One of them tried to throw a punch at me, I ducked out of the way and his fist slammed into the wall of lockers. The next guy threw another punch, and this time I punched back, nailing him directly in the nose. I could see two shapes running towards us.  
Jock #3 threw another punch, I kicked him in the ribs, sending him backwards onto the ground. Taking those martial arts classes my entire life were paying off. The first jock came back to try and slam me against the lockers again. He got me before I could jump out of the way, “So this is what football jocks do? No wonder all of the girls in the school want to date you, this is just you being kinky right?”  
“Why would-” I cut the jock off slamming my fist back into his nose. It was dripping blood now, he let go of me and grabbed his friends pulling them out of the hallway. The jocks had gotten two good punches on me, one in my gut, the other on my jaw. Little drops of blood decorated the ground like flakes of snow. I looked around and saw a few kids staring.  
A certain _familiar_ figure pranced up to me, looking me over. _“I also want to be a doctor!”_ Tanned hands lifted mine up, it looked like I had a few cuts on my hands from being slammed around, “Is that blood on the ground?” Blue eyes looked me up and down, settling on my eyes after a while. His eyes were filled with worry.  
I looked at my shoes, a slight hint of red on my face, “No?” _Wow, great thinking Nico, such a fantastic answer! Maybe you’re dumber than you actually thought! You’re never going to live this down, Will’s going to think you’re an idiot, he’s never going to want to talk to you again. You’ll be so tired of prying you won’t have any energy to even get out of bed in the morning. You barely had enough this morning, the only reason you did was for Hazel-_  
“That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question,” Will chuckled. He pulled a few band-aids out of his bag and placed them on my hands. He looked me up and down again before starting to drag me through various hallways, “Spill. What happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ACL- after lunch cleaning, basically you have to clean the cafeteria. my school the only one?


	3. come for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, very sorry, might post a few one shots though

Will’s POV

I didn’t know what to say, this small italian boy had just punched a kid basically double his size in the nose hard enough to make it start to bleed. On a second look, it looked like Nico had _broken_ that kids nose. I was surprised to say the least, I mean, Nico mentioned he played lacrosse, but I had never seen a kid who plays lacrosse to hit like _that_.  
I snapped out of it and rushed over to him, I dumbly remarked, “Is that blood on the ground?” Of course I knew it was blood, but I felt like I needed to double check.  
“No?” Nico remarked, his eyes slightly squinted a I prodded over his hands. I bent down into my bag and pulled out a couple bandages and started to clean the small cuts on his hands.  
As I thought about what he said I looked up at him with bewilderment in my eyes, I clumsily stumbled out, “That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.” I laughed a little bit about it’ _’no?’_ , I mean in what world would that be a valid answer? _Evidently this on_ , my brain answered for me.  
I started to drag Nico through a few halls before I decided we weren’t going to be found. I made him sit down on the ground and I pulled two bags of chips from my bag, “Spill. What happened?”  
Nico looked down at the ground, reluctantly taking a bag of chips, “I don’t want to talk about it, it was nothing, just a little roughhousing.”  
“That seemed like a little more than roughhousing, you broke that kids nose,” I responded. I opened up my bag of chips and ate one, “I promise I won’t tell. I would never tell anything like that, doctor-patient confidentiality and all.” I smiled at him as wide as I could.  
He shook his head a bit at me, “I don’t know if this is a doctor patient scenario though.”  
“I think it is, I bandaged yo uup, did I not? Did I not help you, did I not feed you?” I said, “It seems like I was being a doctor.”  
A wisp of a smile grew on Nico’s face, it was kind of cute if I was being perfectly honest. _What the hell? Boys aren’t supposed to be cute, girls are. Girls are very pretty_ , “Fine. It was just harmless teasing that got violent. They were telling me it was against the rules to wear a jacket during gym class, and that I was a coward, and nothing without Jason.” Nico shrugged, I could tell he was hiding something, but I wasn’t going to push, I knew as well as the next person that pushing isn’t worth it.  
I nodded at him and smiled, “Alright, thanks for telling me. But one question, you don’t have to answer it if you aren’t comfortable, but why were you wearing a hoodie during gym?”


	4. come for you, pt.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i think i projected a but with this one  
> also all characters are probably very ooc

Nico’s POV

_why were you wearing a hoodie during gym?_  
The words rung through my head. My eyes glazed over slightly. Everything was going great, it was easy to talk to Will. His golden hair framed his face perfectly, and his eyes twinkled with true passion when he spoke. His voice wove melodies in the constant disconnect that raged through my mind. But why, why did he have to ask _that_ question. Out of everything he could have asked, he asked _that_.   
I’m unsure of how long I seemed to be out of it when I felt a hand gently rest on my arm. I unlocked my eyes from their spot on the floor to see cerulean eyes staring down at me. There was worry and sorry in his eyes, “I;m sorry I shouldn’t have asked, but if you ever want to, you can ell me.” He smiled weakly at me, small dimples decorated near his mouth. His smile made him look hurt, _hurt that I don’t trust him enough to tell him_ , I shook that thought out of my head.   
When I realized I was staring I looked down at the ground with a slight blush on my face, “Sorry, it’s sort of a sore subject, not even some of my close friends know why. . .” My voice came out a weak mumble.  
He tapped my arm, “Hey, look at me,” I looked up to see him with a grin on his face, “It’s alright, I’m not going to push, and I completely understand. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” he paused for a split second, “I was just concerned about you.”  
“Why were you concerned about me?”  
“Should I not be concerned? If anyone else was in your position I would have helped them. I can’t watch people get pushed around and at least not help in an aftermath, that’s not what a doctor does. And I want to be your friend, is that so hard to understand?”  
“Yeah it is, because it seems like everyone around me always vanishes, as soon as they get comfortable, they up and leave, leave me all alone, you shouldn’t want to be friends with me.” I said, the words came out harsher than I intended, The smile on Will’s face faltered a bit.  
“Nico, everyone is worth it, everyone deserves a friend, and everyone doesn’t exclude you,” Will said, his voice quiet, eyes sparkling with pure passion, it seemed like a small golden thread was outlining the pupils of his eyes as he got more passionate.  
I don’t know what came over me, but all I know is that I had lunged forward and wrapped Will into a hug. A kid I had met only a few hours ago, into a hug. I rarely even hugged my sister, let alone some kid I met a few hours back.  
I then started really taking in what Will had told me, _everyone deserves a_ friend _, that’s all I was to him, a_ friend _nothing more. Why would I_ ever _have anything more?_  
I unlatched myself from Will, “Thank you, it means a lot, even if I did only meet you a few hours ago.”  
He gave me one of his award winning smiles, “Anytime. And by the way, we should probably head to class, or at least wait until next period.”  
“Next period is lunch, so yeah, we can wait. I think it would be weird to show up fifteen minutes before the end of class.”  
Will and I sat and talked for the next fifteen minutes. When the bell rung Will shot up and held out a hand for me. I gratefully took his hand and pulled myself up off the ground. As I pulled myself up I could feel a section of my back stretch over one of the bruised areas. I winced slightly at the pain and was thankful that Will didn’t see it.  
As we walked into the cafeteria, I sat down at my regular seat to wait for Hazel and Jason. I soon felt a nudge from behind me and Will took a seat next to me, “Where’s your lunch?”  
“I had the chips, did I not? I’m not hungry since I ate those,” I quickly replied.  
Will looked me up and down, “You need to eat more than that, it’ll give you more energy which means you could beat Jason by a long shot when you race him.” Will gave me the faintest of smiles which almost made the worry on his face bleed away for a second before returning, “Here, have some of mine, as much as you’d like.”  
I looked up at him, “Thank you, but no thank you, I think if I ate anything right now I’d probably throw up, and the others will bug me about it soon-” I was cut-off almost on cue.  
“Neeks! Where were you last period?!” Jason said loudly as he harshly set his tray on the table. He sat directly across from me, his eyes bared into me like the fangs of a wolf.  
“I got into a fight after gym class, and Will helped me and bandaged me up, and made sure I was okay,” I mumbled nonchalantly.  
I hadn’t realized Hazel’s appearance, “Nico! You already got into a fight on your first day! I thought you said you weren’t going to get into any fights this year!”  
“He threw the first punch! Not me!” I quickly tried to defend myself. It felt like a bunch of dogs were sizing up their prey, surrounding it so there was nowhere for it to run.  
“Lay off him, it happened, it’s over, Nico wasn’t seriously injured, he fought for himself, and stuck up for himself, isn’t that a valuable trait to have?” Will quickly jumped to defend me. I stared at him, mouth slightly agape. I looked back at Hazel as she had a slight look of shock on her face before looking between Will and I before smiling.  
Hazel’s eyes lit up a bit before she settled on me, “I guess you’re right, good job I guess Nico. For not dying?”  
A loud crash sounded from my left side, the spot that had not been taken. I saw dark braided hair swing around. _Renya._ She glared at the boy seated to my right.  
_Shit’s about to go down._


End file.
